"Last Season's Vaccines Saved Millions From Flu"

December 12, 2013

Flu vaccines prevented millions of influenza cases in the US last year says new CDC report

(dailyRx News) Americans might get a flu vaccine to avoid getting sick, but they might not consider the large scale outcome of this decision — the millions of flu cases across the country avoided through vaccination.

In a new study, researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) used a variety of data sources to estimate the effects of vaccination on last year’s flu season.

These researchers estimated that vaccines prevented over 6 million illnesses and 79,000 flu hospitalizations, but they also estimated that these numbers could have been greatly improved if more people received the vaccine.